The Railway Museum (Dutch: Het Spoorwegmuseum) in Utrecht is the Dutch national railwaymuseum. It was established in 1927 and since 1954 has been housed in the former Maliebaan station.
The museum was established in 1927 and was initially located in one of the main buildings of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch National Railway) in Utrecht. At that time, the collection consisted mostly of pictures, documents, and small objects. In the 1930s the first steps were taken to conserve old historically significant rail equipment. A portion of this collection was lost during World War II.
Maliebaan station
The collection was briefly located in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, but in the 1950s the museum was moved back to Utrecht. Maliebaan station, which had been closed in 1939, was found to be a suitable site. The building was remodeled, and in 1954 the museum reopened there. In this location there was far more room to exhibit the entire collection to the public, including historical rail equipment. Until 2003, a long line of historic steam locomotives on track one of the station was one of the most distinctive aspects of the exhibit.
Expansion and renovation
Over the years, more rail vehicles and trams were added to the museum, and in the 1960s the plaza in front of the building was filled with rolling stock, which suffered much from the weather. An initial improvement, in 1975, was the construction of a roofed platform behind the building. In 1977 the museum was expanded with a pedestrian bridge, allowing access to an exhibit area on the other side of the freight rail tracks behind the main building. The space in front of the building was then converted to a parking lot.
The right wing of the main building contained the "historic" department, with the "modern" department located in the left wing. Among the distinctive parts of the collection are models of bridges from early on in the development of the Dutch railways, and models of various train types. In addition there are paintings, prints, and railway equipment to be seen. The "modern" section was changed in the 1980s when it was updated to include the most recent developments, including the front of a "Sprinter" train.
Between 1988 and 1989 a major renovation was undertaken. The interior of the station building was completely redone according to the modern views of that time. This version was in place through 2003. In addition, the back lot was integrated into the museum and a "railway landscape" was built there. It also became possible to take rides, both in model trains and full sized ones. Additional buildings were added, such as the signal box from Hoogezand-Sappemeer, and a crossing guard house from Elst (in the province of Gelderland). One of the oldest railway bridges, from Halfweg, was also included. Finally, rail service between the main railway station of Utrecht and the Maliebaan station (the museum) was established by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
Later additions, in the 1990s, were two warehouses, one of which now houses a restaurant, and a new building on the back lot with a large model railway. The growing collection of rolling stock was largely restored, and partly returned to operating condition. Some of the trains had suffered due to being stored out in the open, so there has been an ongoing effort to have the entire exhibit area roofed over.
2003 remodeling
Remodeling of the Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht, 2004
In 2002 a decision was made to do yet another major remodeling of the museum. The station building was closed in September 2003, gutted, and then largely restored to the way it looked in the 19th century, with the addition of the "Royal waiting room" moved there from the "Staatsspoor" railway station of The Hague, which was demolished in 1973.
Sections of the station building
Station hall
Freight hall
Dining room
Waiting room, 3rd class
Waiting room, 1st and 2nd class
Royal waiting room
The new building
Interior of the main train shed
During the 2002 remodeling, the back lot was also largely cleared, and completely renovated. A large new museum building was constructed, which now contains four "worlds":
The great discovery (the early years in the 19th century)
Dream travels (the glory days of international trains around 1900)
Steel monsters (the 1930s and 1940s)
The workshop (large hall with trains)
The presentation was redesigned to appeal much more to the general public, especially visitors with children, and to be interesting for corporate events and the like. The technical and historical substance of the museum has become a lower priority. The collection now serves mainly as a kind of "background" for visitors.
Much attention was given to decoration. The choice was made to offer "a little of everything" to appeal to the general public. judging from the sharp increase in attendance since the reopening in June 2005, it would seem this goal has been achieved.[citation needed]
In April 2010, the 5th anniversary of the re-opening was marked by a special exhibition of royal trains, called “Royal Class, Royal Railways”, opened by Queen Beatrix.[2]
Sections of the new building
Section "the great discovery".
Conference hall and foyer
The Open Depots
Automated Audio Tour "world 1"
Theater "world 2"
Track "world 3"
Plaza "world 4"
Simulation "world 5"
Warehouse "Nijverdal"
Model Trains Cellar
Exhibition Area
Museum Shop
Restaurant
Outdoors exhibit area
On the exhibit area outside, a water tower was added near the existing signal box. There is also a model railway, a children's playground, and an area for special events, as well as a turntable.
Rolling stock collection
The museum currently owns a large and varied collection of rolling stock. The collection is too large to be shown in full in the limited space available. For this reason, most of the trams were dropped from the collection in the 1990s, and some of the trains are in storage. The remaining collection is no longer shown by category, as was formerly the practice, but is placed more or less at random.
The museum has a diverse selection of freight vehicles.
Overview of the collection
Some of the items in the collection are:
Steam locomotives, for example:
The Arend ("Eagle"), the first Dutch locomotive (replica)
WD 73755 Longmoor (NS 5085; WD Austerity 2-10-0)
Locomotive no. 3737, the last steam locomotive in Dutch railway service (retired 1958)
Motor-railcar mBC 6, built in 1908, the first Dutch electrically powered train
A large CC50 1622 Mallet locomotive which was operated by Staatspoorwegen, later Indonesian State Railway (PT Kereta Api) and repatriated back to the Netherlands in 1982.
A Royal carriage
A crane
Shuttle rail service between Utrecht central station and the Maliebaan station
As part of the reopening of the renovated museum in June 2005, Utrecht Maliebaan railway station was also reopened as a normal railway station for the first time in almost 66 years. There is now train service on an hourly basis, between the museum and Utrecht Centraal railway station.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union, and the third busiest in the world after Switzerland and Japan.
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The Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij or HSM was the first railway company in the Netherlands founded on 8 August 1837 as a private company, starting operation in 1839 with a line between Amsterdam and Haarlem. The company remained operational until 1938, when it merged with the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS) to form the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).
The history of rail transport in the Netherlands is generally considered to have begun on September 20, 1839, when the first train, drawn by De Arend, successfully made the 16 km (9.9 mi) trip from Amsterdam to Haarlem. However, the first plan for a railroad in the Netherlands was launched only shortly after the first railroad opened in Britain.
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 1200 was a class of electric locomotives that were in service from 1951 until 1998. They were designed by Baldwin and built by Werkspoor (Utrecht) between 1951 and 1953. The electrical equipment was built by N.V. Heemaf (Hengelo) to a design by Westinghouse. Some parts were made in the United States as part of the Marshall Plan.
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War Department (WD) Austerity 2-10-0 No. 73755 Longmoor is a preserved steam locomotive.
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The Stadsgewestelijk Materieel or SGM was an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type that was operated by the Dutch railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen. They were built from 1975 to 1983 by Talbot and retired from service between 2018 and 2021.
Werkspoor N.V. was the shortened, and later the official name of the Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel. It was a Dutch machine factory, known for rolling stock, (ship) steam engines, and diesel engines. It was a successor of the company Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel, later named Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen. In 1954 Werkspoor was merged with Stork.
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